Can Janus Make It In the ETF Market?

Some of Janus Capital’s new ETFs take advantage of the firm’s active-management prowess. Others seem to be mere marketing ploys.

By

Lewis Braham

Updated Jan. 7, 2017 1:14 a.m. ET

By

Lewis Braham

Updated Jan. 7, 2017 1:14 a.m. ET

In Roman mythology, Janus is depicted as a two-faced god, meant to symbolize his control over transitional moments when one’s fate could go in either direction. Never has that symbolism seemed more apt for the fund company that bears his name.

Janus Capital Group (ticker: JNS), once an emblematic superstar money manager of the 1990s, never fully recovered from the subsequent dot-com crash. Assets have dropped from their 2000 peak of $324 billion to $199 billion as of Sept. 30—a 39% decline. The firm has been...